Where Does The South Begin In Kentucky?

Kentucky is historically a border state, neither wholly Northern/Midwestern nor Southern. Depending on where you are in the state there comes a point in which you cross the border from the North or Midwest to the South. To my mind it occurs traveling south on I-75 about 500 yds. north of mile marker 131. At that point, you descend a significant hill and see before you spread out the northernmost part of the Bluegrass. The view calls to my mind the painting of Daniel Boone viewing what we now know as the Bluegrass from Pilot Knob. At the bottom of the hill is the Louisville Forge factory on the left as you travel south. From this point you are out of the hills of the Ohio River valley countryside of my native northern Kentucky and into the gently rolling Bluegrass.

Barack Obama For President

The 2000 Presidential campaign seems a very, very long time ago.  An issue then was what to do with the federal government's budgetary surplus, the United States stood in an exemplary position as the world leader, and, at least as I recall it, our Country, while not exactly on an even keel for everybody, seemed to allow or offer a more or less fair shake for everybody.  That last point overstates it, perhaps, but then memory can make things look better given time.  

But the Bush Administration has laid waste to all this.  Putting aside everything specific, there has been a continuing absence of sound, reasoned judgment in favor of I'm not sure what but it has yielded disaster after disaster.  

Barack Obama offers the clearest and most direct step away from the dark years of George W. Bush and toward a day where the United States is again admired and respected throughout the world, its federal government functions in a sensible way and serves its people, and, most important of all, our beloved Nation will again offer something like a fair shake to ordinary Americans.  Obama's election will also illustrate the greatest of American strengths; the continuing ability of this Nation to stand as the best hope for all the World.  Nobody fair and reasonable can deny that Obama's election will be both remarkable and encouraging.   

Ironies Abound In This Remarkable Presidential Campaign

It seems difficult not to conclude that Sen. John McCain harbors no small amount of bitterness over recognizing that fate and time passed him by, at least in terms of ever being elected President. My own guess is that had he run in the 2000 general election as the Republican candidate against Al Gore he would have won (and not in the hanging chad have the election decided by five political appointees on the Supreme Court but straight out). Also, had he run as the Democratic candidate in the 2000 general election against George W. Bush, he would have won as well. Now in 2008 it appears to me that the utterly disastrous rule of the Bush Administration has compelled Sen. McCain to take measures, i.e., the bizarre selection of the stunningly unqualified and not ready for prime time Sarah Palin as his running mate, that were counter to his inclinations. I've read that he wanted to select Tom Ridge or Sen. Lieberman as his running mate but was talked out of it by, well, I'm not sure who but presumably Republican operatives. And so now Sen. McCain finds himself saddled with a near impossible situation and facing an opponent, Sen. Obama, for whom it appears the timing of fate has been perfect. This congruence of coincidence and compulsion has left Sen. McCain apparently seething and barely able to conduct himself in Sen. Obama's presence in a way that Sen. Obama deserves and, I say, Sen. McCain himself knows is proper. Another irony is that McCain probably would be in a better mood and would probably be running a campaign more in tune with his own history if his opponent were Hillary Clinton. A further irony would be that Hillary Clinton would probably have a massive lead over McCain already and the campaign would no longer be in doubt. Ironies abound in this unbelievable campaign taking place as the full weight of the years of Bush misrule become further manifest.

Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Center

Saturday night brought to our town Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.  There were 15 players in all: Marsalis and three other trumpeteers, a drummer, a pianist, a bassist, three trombonists, and five musicians who played a variety of saxaphones, clarinets and flutes.  Among the stronger performances to my ear were Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes" and Lee Morgan's "Ceora."  The Singletary Center was 80-85% full, maybe 1200 people.  My daughter remarked that there were a lot of bald heads and gray hair and asked why there were so few young people there.  Good question.  Surely the ticket prices had something to do with it, the cheapest was $40.   One might also infer a lack of interest in jazz among the college student-age crowd.  Jazz for that crowd might be regarded similar to classical music: something you go hear performed occasionally in a fancy hall but is not part of the regular stream of life.  

All that may be but missing out on a performance by Marsalis with this orchestra is missing something special.  Wynton Marsalis is one of our Nation's greatest cultural ambassadors, as interesting a cultural commentator as a musician.